Increasing trap stiffness with position clamping in holographic optical tweezers

Opt Express. 2009 Dec 7;17(25):22718-25. doi: 10.1364/OE.17.022718.

Abstract

We present a holographic optical tweezers system capable of position clamping multiple particles. Moving an optical trap in response to the trapped object's motion is a powerful technique for optical control and force measurement. We have now realised this experimentally using a Boulder Nonlinear Systems Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) with a refresh rate of 203Hz. We obtain a reduction of 44% in the variance of the bead's position, corresponding to an increase in effective trap stiffness of 77%. This reduction relies on the generation of holograms at high speed. We present software capable of calculating holograms in under 1ms using a graphics processor unit.

MeSH terms

  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Holography / instrumentation*
  • Optical Tweezers*